


she'll come back to you

by welcometotheupsidedown



Series: love you from the upside down to the right side up [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eleven deserves happiness, F/M, Final Moments for Emo Mike, Good Sibling Nancy Wheeler, Happy Eleven, Mike-Centric, Missing Scene, Nancy loves her brother ok?, POV El (2nd chapter), POV Mike, Post-Gate fic, Sad with a Happy Ending, el is badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometotheupsidedown/pseuds/welcometotheupsidedown
Summary: The missing scene after El closes the gate that we all wanted to see.Mike waits for her return, and it's killing him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you know me, you'd know I love post gate fics with my whole soul. However, I've noticed a common thread that I disagree with in nearly all of them. So, this is my take on it! It's short, but that's because it focuses solely on Mike's feelings. 
> 
> Dear Duffer Brothers, please give us a flashback scene so we can know what truly took place after the gate was closed.   
> Sincerely, the fandom

The most pivotal moment of the night, Mike thinks, was the when the lights flared. 

Barely having survived the tunnels, the four kids and Steve ran back to the car and piled in. Mike felt like he was in a haze. He couldn’t feel his legs. He could hardly breathe. But somehow he found his way back to the car.

One of his hands fidgeted with the fabric of his jacket. He knew that the lights getting brighter could mean one of two things: that El had succeeded in closing the gate, or she was dead.

Mike wasn’t prepared for the second option. 

The ride back to the Byers’ wasn’t long. Before Mike had even realized they’d been driving, they were already back in the driveway. 

He got out of the car and his legs carried him through the threshold of the house. He went straight to the bathroom without speaking to anyone.

His reflection stared back at him, but the person he saw was only mildly reminiscent of Mike. Who was this person covered in dirt and a strange upside down-related substance? But it wasn’t just the dirt. It was his eyes. They weren’t his own. They had seen things that a child’s eyes should never see. Was he even a child anymore? It didn’t feel like it. 

Earlier in the night, when El had came back, he had been so hyperaware. Now? He didn’t feel anything. He couldn’t focus. Was it shock? 

He splashed his face with water, clearing some of the dirt. Then, he made his way back out to the living room. 

But before he even consciously made the decision, his feet began to lead him out to the porch. 

“Where are you going?” he heard Dustin say.

He stopped in his tracks, only momentarily, to reply, “To wait for El.”

No one stopped him after that. 

He had been sitting on the steps for only about a minute before he heard the sound of a car. 

He stood up, waiting for it to come into view.

It was Jonathan’s car. And later, Mike would hate himself for being disappointed, but in that moment, all he could think about was El. So he simply watched as Jonathan carried Will’s sleeping body into the house, Joyce following quickly behind. 

Nancy looked like she had aged ten years in one night. Her shirt clung to her from the sweat and her eyes were tired, but not calm either. 

She wordlessly sat next to Mike, giving him and herself a moment to just breathe. 

“He’s alright now,” she finally said. “Just exhausted. I know that right now you have other things to worry about, but I know you would still want to know.”

“Thanks,” he heard himself say. He did want to know. But his mind was moving a million miles per hour right now, and he couldn’t form the words. 

“You… you could’ve told me, you know. I thought we said no more secrets,” Nancy said. Mike didn’t need any context to know what she was referring to.

“I didn’t.. I didn’t..” He took a deep breath. It was all he could do to not burst into tears like he had earlier that night in Hopper’s arms. “I didn’t know what to say. I felt—I feel like such a loser.”

“You’re hurting, Mike. You’re not a loser.”

Mike tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace.

“You love her don’t you?”

Mike didn’t answer. He simply looked up at Nancy, hoping she could read him well enough so he didn’t have to say it out loud. 

Yes. 

He did. 

Nancy put her hand on his shoulder as she began to stand. 

“She’ll come back to you. I know she will.” And then she left him.

Mike hoped she was right. 

———————

Mike figured that the lab was about a ten minute drive tops. And it had already been twenty since they had gotten back. 

He was NOT going to freak out. No way. 

At least not yet. 

Taking deep breaths, steadying himself, he promised—no one in particular—that he was going to stay calm for fifteen more minutes. 

If by then, El wasn’t back? Well, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but it would not be calm, he was sure of that. 

Ten minutes.

Seven.

Three. 

One.

Just as Mike was about to lose it, he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle. 

Heart beating wildly in his chest, he stood up, seeing a pair of bright headlights come into view.

The hyperawareness from earlier in the night returned as the vehicle got closer. 

Before the cruiser had even come to a stop, the passenger door was being flung open, and Mike watched in complete awe as the girl he’d been thinking about all night appeared, running towards him. She went to him under her own power, not needing any help. She was tired, yes. But she was strong and beautiful. 

She threw her arms around his neck, and Mike wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her into the air with the force of their collision. Mike felt a tear escape him as he set her feet back on the ground.

He looked down at her face, but kept his arms around her steady, unwilling to move them. She grinned back up at him.

Before he could stop himself, he was leaning down, not thinking or even really caring that Hopper was there. 

She met him halfway, their lips meeting. 

And suddenly, the (2nd) worst night of his life was also the best. Because there was nothing better, he decided, than having El in his arms, her lips on his, and the promise of a future. 

A future, with her in it.


	2. he's waiting for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El's POV after the gate is closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, the first chapter was supposed to be a stand-alone, but here I am. I couldn't resist.

Eleven was drained. 

She was exhausted, but there was no way she was going to let go. There was too much at stake.

And when the gate finally sealed at her mental touch, she fell into the arms of Hopper. 

The red light that had poured through the night was now gone, hopefully forever. (If only it was the end…)

El couldn’t yet stand, but she felt stronger somehow, like she had found even more power in herself than she had known existed. 

Hopper set El down on floor, propping her against the metal bars of the lift. 

He began rifling through his bag, searching for something. 

Pulling out a water bottle and a 3 Musketeers bar, he handed them to her. 

“How do you feel?” he asked. 

“Tired. But okay,” El answered. “Just need to sit for a while.”

“I can carry you to the truck before we go home,” Hopper suggested. 

“No!” Eleven yelled a little too forcefully, making the pounding in her head worse. 

“Whoa, take it easy, kid... why not?” he asked. 

“Not home. Back to Mike,” she told him, as she took a long drink from the water bottle. 

Hopper simply nodded, knowing that this was an argument she would win. He’d kept them apart for long enough. 

Of course she would want to go back to him. The thought of not seeing him again, “soon,” was unbearable.

Hopper knew from the way Mike went to her when she walked through that door that Mike was going to be a part of Eleven’s life. It became even more apparent when the boy cried in his arms over her that this was more than just a schoolyard crush. 

They sat there for a long time. At least 20 minutes, but it could have been as long as an hour, El wasn’t sure. 

Finally, after the water was drank and the 3 Musketeers gone, the pounding in El’s head had ceased and she was left with a manageable headache. 

“I think we can go now, I’m feeling better,” she told Hopper. 

He nodded and stood up, raising the lift. El sat and waited until they were back to the top before slowly standing up, holding onto Hopper’s arm for support. 

She had expected to be light-headed or the pounding to start again, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that she was perfectly okay. 

It was as if she had not only unlocked her full power, but also the ability to regain her energy. She let go of Hopper’s arm, not needing the support. 

They went straight for the cruiser, only stopping to call Dr. Owens an ambulance. 

Sitting in the truck, El couldn’t help but feel her heart begin to flutter at the thought of seeing Mike again. 

They had almost kissed. 

El wasn’t going to be interrupted again. 

Interrupting her thoughts, Hopper spoke. 

“I’m sorry about Mike. I know how much he means to you, and I... I promise I won’t do that to you both again.”

“It’s okay. I understand. It wasn’t safe,” she answered. 

“Will you promise me one thing in return?” Hopper asked, as they approached the road to the Byers’. 

“What?”

“Promise me that you will trust me when I say things aren’t safe. You won’t take matters into your own hands. You’re just a kid.”

“Just a kid,” El grinned. “Promise.”

As they made the final turn towards the driveway, Hopper noticed El’s leg bouncing and said, “Getting antsy, are we?”

El’s reply was short and thoughtless. She had other things on her mind, well, one thing in particular.

“He’s waiting for me.”

And then she could finally see a mop of black hair sitting on the porch. Her heart nearly pound out of her chest then, she was so excited. Before Hopper put the cruiser in park, she was halfway out the door.

She ran to the boy eagerly, wearing her heart on her sleeve. She hadn’t even shut the car door.

El ran into his embrace with such a force that it nearly knocked them over, but Mike caught her and held her weight before placing her feet back to the ground gently. 

She looked up at him then, all messy hair and dirty faced, but he was still beautiful to her. She began to tear up looking into his eyes, which had tears of their own. She grinned at him.

When he began to lean down, El eagerly met him in the middle. 

And it was amazing and wonderful and everything El had been dreaming about. 

This was the start of something new. Something incredible. El knew it. Mike knew it. Hopper knew it, too. She could feel the annoyance radiating from him, but she didn’t care.

“Alright,” he spoke up. “Enough of that. Get inside. It’s cold.”

El reluctantly let go, but grabbed one of Mike’s hands to hold. He squeezed her hand tightly in return with pure joy.

The two kids followed Hopper into the house only to be bombarded with questions from the others.

“Is it dead?”

“The demodogs?”

“What took you so long?”

“Are you okay, El? Did it hurt?”

This question, she answered, “Yes, but I’m okay now. Just a little headache.” And it really was. El’s tolerance for headaches was understandably much higher than that of the average 13-year-old girl.

“We can all talk about this later, but for now you all should get cleaned up and get some rest. All you need to know is that we’re all safe and the monster is gone.”

They had all came to the conclusion that they should stay together for the night. Just in case. There was a scramble for turns in the shower, borrowing clothes, and finding blankets for everyone. 

Finally everyone had found a place to sleep and the house was quiet. 

Will and Joyce were asleep in her bed. Jonathan had given Nancy his bed for the night, and he slept on the floor beside her. Steve had fallen asleep in an armchair not long after everyone had returned. Hopper was snoring on the couch with a shotgun in his hands. Lucas, Dustin, and Max were on the living room floor.

Everyone was asleep.

Except for Mike and Eleven, who were occupying Will’s bedroom. 

It was the first moment they’d gotten alone together in a year. 

They talked for a while, even though they were both exhausted. They had pleaded with Hopper to let them stay together tonight. He had finally given up with the rule that Mike was to sleep on the floor. 

That lasted all of 30 seconds before El told Mike to lay beside her, claiming she could handle Hopper. And honestly? She could.

When they finally did sleep, it was the first night in a long time that El’s dreams weren’t riddled with nightmares. 

And when she woke in the morning to the smell of Eggo waffles and Mike still next to her, she knew in her heart that there was no other place she’d rather be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Please feel free to comment below what you think happened after the gate closed!


End file.
